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Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2018

Here in my USDA Zone 6a garden in central Indiana the garden is looking pretty lush after a good all day soaking rain last Sunday–about three inches give or take–followed by a moderate pop up shower on Wednesday afternoon–about half an inch.

Before we got that rain, I was beginning to wring my hands a bit and start working on a watering strategy because May was drier than normal.

When the rains finally came, I felt like we had dodged a drought bullet. But the summer is just beginning and they are predicting record high temperatures for Sunday, so we may still have a few rough weeks ahead, weather-wise.

All I ask is that we not repeat the drought of 2012.

Okay, enough about the weather.

On to the blooms.

First up is a betony, Stachys officianalis 'Hummelo'. I transplanted it to the edge of the flower border called Plopper's Field where I think it shows itself off nicely. That's good because there aren't too many other blooms in Plopper's Field right now other than from a few new flowers I planted this spring.

There are two new coneflowers in bloom, both trial plants from Darwin Perennials.

The red one is Echinacea x hybrida 'Sombrero® Sangrita'.

I don't usually like a lot of red flowers but I'm going to keep this one.

The other one from Darwin Perennials is Echinacea x hybrida 'Sombrero® Granada Gold'.

I like its coloring.

In a few days, I'm going to cut off the flowers on both of these coneflowers so the plants will focus on growing roots and not on making seeds. That will give them a better chance of returning next year and the following years. They are both blooming earlier than I expected, but the tags say "late spring through summer" so maybe they do bloom earlier than other coneflowers?

Nearby, the last of the Straw Foxglove blooms are adding just enough color to the garden for me to include them for bloom day. This is one Digitalis lutea and it has returned reliably for several years, unlike other foxgloves which are biennials.

Nearby, I just planted another yellow flower, Agastache 'Kudos™ Yellow'.

I hope it attracts some pollinators all summer.

Another new perennial blooming in Plopper's Field is Monarda 'Grand Parade'.

It's nice and bright and I planted it where it will hide the ugly lower stems of a Clematis 'Pagoda'.

Speaking of clematis...

How about Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' with its lovely pink flowers?

And a clematis with white flowers.

If only I knew the name of this white-flowering clematis. It's using a bayberry shrub for support and it is all the bayberry can do to stay upright under the weight of the vine.

One of these days, I'll go through my basket of tags to see if I can find out which clematis this is because it's a keeper and it would be nice to know its name.

What else is blooming? Some hostas are blooming, including the big hosta 'Empress Wu'.

"The Empress", as I fondly call this plant, has some other hostas around it, including old fashioned August lilies in front, 'Praying Hands' on each side, and 'Blue Mouse Ears' all around the edges of the bed. I plan to move out the 'Praying Hands' and the August lilies to give "the Empress" more room to grow but I'll wait for a cooler stretch of weather.

I think everyone has that trampy flower, the daylily 'Stella d'Oro' blooming now, including me. It's trampy because it is everywhere... at the malls, by the gas stations, at every office parks... everywhere.

None of the other hybrid daylilies are blooming but I see lots of buds.

Finally, we know it is summertime because the clover is blooming in the lawn. Food for the rabbits, nectar for the bees, and a pleasant reminder to me of growing up during a time when sitting on the lawn making jewelry from the flowers and looking for four-leaf clovers was a fun way to spend time on a lazy afternoon.

It's still a fun way to spend a lazy hour or two in the garden.

What's blooming in your lawn in mid-June? We would love to have you join us for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and show us around your garden.

It's easy to participate. Just post on your blog about the blooms in your garden, then come back to this post and leave a link on the Mr. Linky widget to tell us how to get to your virtual garden and add a comment to entice us to come and see.

And remember, as Elizabeth Lawrence once wrote, "We can have flowers nearly every month of the year."

Love your clementis (I don't have any) and wishing I could grow monarada. I have tried several varieties, and all of them mold up. I'm almost afraid to wish for rain nowadays; hope you get just the right amount the rest of the summer.

So many beautiful things to admire in your garden. I wish I could think of a place to plant that clematis, but I know I could find room for Sombrero. Thank you for Bloom Day and peeks at so many gardens.

All my lawn is long gone (a good thing as my rain total for the year is just 3.78 inches and lawns like to drink). However, I do have a large patch of clover and, based on your comment, I'm now wondering why the rabbits that recently discovered my garden don't eat that rather than my Gazanias. Thanks, as always, for hosting GBBD, Carol!

Wow! stunning clematis blooms its sad we cant grow it in our region...Echinacea are loved by bees and butterfly in our region.Please do visit my blog to know whats blooming in my garden http://jaipurgardening.blogspot.com/2018/06/while-we-wait-for-monsoon.html

Speaking as someone who lives where at least two months of summer drought is a known quantity, I wish that wishes were all it took to make rain come. Our drought has started early this year too. I despise the chore of dragging hoses and sprinklers around.

As I've said before, Carol, I am always amazed that we live in similar zones yet you are ahead of me with blooms. I like the red Echinacea too. I think you are very brave to cut off flowers before they've finished. I have a hard time with that but I know it's the right thing to do.

Since you're only about half a zone warmer than I am, Carol, I paged through your June Bloom Day posts over the years to get an idea of what I could plant for some early summer blooms. I decided on some lupines and some coneflowers, among others that I'd been eyeing. I'm also looking at moving some of my reliable bloomers to more visible spots -- having a clematis blooming along the wall of my house behind an evergreen seems like such a waste! :)

Thanks for Bloom Day, Carol -- and these flowers that came with the house my family bought six years ago thank you, too.!

I love the new coneflowers! I haven't had much luck with the newer hybrids, so I'll be curious to see how these do next year in your garden. Cutting off the blooms now is a good idea, something I am always reluctant to do. Thanks for hosting Bloom Day so faithfully--it's the one time a month I get motivated these days to actually write a post!

I miss my already dead plants from very generous blogger friends from the US. Whenever i look at GBBD, they are the first flowers that enter my head. Thanks so much for hosting these, which even if i sometimes miss, i always try my best to remember participating.

Carol, I am envying you your rainfall. We haven't had significant rain here in many weeks, and we are already in drought conditions, despite higher than average snowfall this winter. I've got white clover blooming too, on the clover path that I seeded last year as a lawn substitute. I need to mow it, but I'm tempted to wait until the clover goes to seed. -Jean

Ah yes, I remember the drought of 2012. That's the year I learned that there was a difference between dormant grass and dead grass. That's a great tip for the echinacea's first year - I transplanted a few last year in the fall that I grew from seed. This will hopefully be their first year blooming so I'll make sure to cut off those heads as soon as they are done.